Teacher throwing a chair

[Brilliance6]

My son is at secondary school in year 9. On Monday this week his teacher lost his temper in the classroom and threw a chair towards the class. It didn't hit or harm anyone. It is a nice school with generally high standards of behaviour, although my son said lots of the class were very chatty. My son is quite an anxious boy and was shaken up.
He is back at work today and taught my child. I feel really unhappy about this and would like to know what you would do/ contact you might make with the school.

I would be very skeptical that he threw a chair across the classroom or with the aim of attacking a pupil. There is no way he would be back teaching so soon (or ever).

It is more likely he pushed it or moved it forcefully. It's still not right to lose control in front of young people, but I do wonder what provoked him.

I would be contacting the school. If he will do this in front of parents (also curious why there weee parents there, but I can’t see how it makes a difference), what does he do when it’s just the children. Have you asked your son if the teacher has done anything similar, or otherwise lost his temper before?

I would not be happy about him continuing to teach that class ever again. Violence like that is abusive, it puts the kids on edge and some will be uncomfortable with him regardless of any occupational health or counseling he gets.

If a manager did that to me at work I certainly would accept them ever having a position of authority over me again. Kids and teachers have an even more significant power disparity.

"I would be very skeptical that he threw a chair across the classroom or with the aim of attacking a pupil. There is no way he would be back teaching so soon"

Agreed kids do tend to exaggerate and gossip and the tales grow in the telling.

Its not unusual for pupils to throw furniture, the rest of the class have to move rooms, and the culprit be back in lesson the next lesson/ day like nothing happened...usually because they have a diagnosis so it is justified as a reasonable adjustment...you would think it would be different for staff?

I thought those days were over.

Sorry, it should say 'apart from the parents of the children in the class at that time'. Other parents are talking about it but not sure if it's true.

It doesn't sound like he aimed to hit a pupil . from what my son says he repeatedly asked for silence , didn't get it, threw the chair in frustration and then ran out. A child went to get another teacher and a few members of SLT came .

Adding to the reminiscences, I remember a teacher getting so angry once that he went red in the face and overturned one of the desks. None of us told our parents. We were all a bit shocked but felt that it was our fault for messing about and pushing him too far. That was the 80s.

This wouldn't bother me, it's just a chair and he wasnt trying to hit anyone with it. No one was hurt. Perhaps the class need to learn to stop talking and pay attention. If this were a child it would all be considered very normal and people would be saying they needed support. This teacher probably does need support and likely isn't getting it.

the teacher lost his rag, and left the classroom
i wouldnt take it further

The difference being he is an adult in a position of authority and a role model to the young people in the room.

No one would deny his job is difficult and he may have been pushed to the edge, but walking out would have been preferable to a show of violence or aggression even if the chair went nowhere near the children.

Yes I got hit by one in 1972 and it wasn’t even me talking!
Can you tell I still annoyed by the injustice of it.

Of course it would be preferable, no one is suggesting otherwise.

If he threw the chair he should lose his job and would probably be referred to the teaching council.

However, children often (not necessarily on purpose) use language that changes how adults perceive things - another child threw a log at me (a twig), he kicked me (was on a swing at the time), the teacher screamed in my face (told me off in a firm voice) etc. If he pushed a chair over, well away from children, that's poor but very different to throwing it. Though probably still suggests me needs more than 2 days off and more support.

Ours threw a board wiper thingy, in fairness to him my class were aresholes and the teacher was actually very good.

Doesn't sound like a qualified teacher.
Was he a student, or some kind of cover?
I wouldn't want him anywhere near children. Yes kids can take a teacher to the edge of reason, but the point about being a teacher is that you model behaviour.
Several kids I know would throw a chair after seeing a teacher do it. He could have just left the room, or sent a child to get SLT.

Yes, fair. I can see a scenario where you stand up quite suddenly, flinging your chair backwards, and storm out to SLT (hence their subsequent arrival), and someone describes that as Sir throwing his chair. In that case he probably needs more support rather than to lose his job

I'd be surprised if the school isn't looking at it any further but perhaps worth a check in early next week.

Those calling for him to be sacked- you have absolutely no idea what this man might be going through. It sounds like he needs support, not sacking.

I remember a teacher who used to use a chair by banging it on the floor a couple of times to get attention from a noisy class. It was really loud, so shut us up.

Sounds like my school in the 80’s!

In year 7 my son and his friend absolutely swore that their French teacher “Burst into tears and then collapsed in the classroom”

after a fair bit of questioning and other children’s accounts it transpires that this poor lady had a migraine, near to the end of the lesson she was in pain, sat down, asked a pupil to get a glass of water and a single tear ran down her cheek.

not quite the dramatics of the first scenario described to us.

So, I’m always a little bit careful about taking second hand accounts as gospel.

Surely if that’s exactly what happened it would be deemed gross misconduct?

Maybe he pushed a chair, or walked away and accidentally walked in to it and it fell forwards towards the class and the kids went on to say he threw it… I just feel that if he intentionally did that, he would not be back teaching them. His two days off could have been the school establishing what happened, then they decided it’s not what the kids have said.

why can't both be true? He might absolutely need support but that doesn't mean he shouldn't also face some consequences (not necessarily sacking), and it doesn't mean the school should just sweep it under the carpet. It's a serious incident, they need to make sure parents know about it, issue an apology and let them know the safeguarding actions they will be taking to ensure it won't happen again going forward - which could include making sure the teacher has sufficient support/resilience.

What if the chair had hit one of the kids? It could have caused a lot of damage to a young child.

If one of your colleagues threw a chair at you would you say 'Oh poor you, you must be so stressed?' Doubt it!

What other crimes can having a bad day excuse in your world? Murder? Rape? Assault?

I think if most people spent half a day in a school observing behaviour they would be shocked and probably feel like throwing chairs themselves! I’m not excusing it if it did happen ( though children are notoriously unreliable witnesses) but I really feel that soon there will be no one entering such a thankless and stressful profession.

Maybe the children need to reflect on why and how they pushed a teacher to this point.

Indeed.

THINK OF THE little shits CHILDREN everyone.